NetSpend, a leading provider of general-purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid debit cards, has announced the launch of the PayPal Prepaid MasterCard.

"PayPal has chosen us to be the exclusive program and distribution manager and processor for their GPR card," said Dan Henry, chief executive officer of NetSpend. "We are marketing the PayPal prepaid card online and through our direct mail channels. Through this relationship, we are able to offer the prepaid card to PayPal's 106 million active users."

SpyderLynk, creator of SnapTag, has announced its new Snap-to-Buy technology will be deployed in Glamour’s March issue, and through its Glamour Apothecary “shop-able” Wall.

Snap-to-Buy SnapTags transform the way consumers shop for products they see in print advertisements. It is the first integrated solution that combines social media, print media and mobile allowing consumers to complete a purchase from a single mobile based technology platform. Consumers simply snap or scan the “Buy it Now” SnapTag to purchase an advertised product. Consumers enter their credit card information once, which is then saved in a fully-encrypted ‘mobile wallet’ that can be used to make future “Snap-to-Buy” purchases from their specific mobile device.

In related news, Billing Revolution has rebranded itself to buck and announced it is the mobile payment enabler behind Snap-to-Buy.

The Boston Fed has published a Public Policy Discussion Paper entitled "Effects of Credit Scores on Consumer Payment Choice".

This paper investigates the effects of credit scores on consumer payment behavior, especially on debit and credit card use. Anecdotally, a negative relationship between debit card use and credit score has been reported; however, it is not clear whether that relationship is related to other factors, such as education or income, or whether it is a mere correlation. We use a new consumer survey dataset to examine whether this negative relationship holds after controlling for various consumer characteristics, including demographic and financial characteristics, consumers' perceptions toward payment methods, and card reward status.